Logo did go

 

Rock A Bye

 Rock a bye

john clare stokes

Before we have the time to learn

the lines to that little lullaby 

Before the high chair and toys are

stored in the shed

Before even the waking to the crying

is forgotten from the spindled bed,

"Rock a bye baby in the tree top"

Too soon  we are standing in

December winds

Lamenting the bough has broken

and over our precious ones we bend

then look sadly up that tree hushed

not a word spoken.

It was such a strong tree!

And wasn't it but a gentle breeze?

How could baby and cradle fall?

Who left baby alone after all?

Oh! Trust not the strength in trees

or even the gentle south breeze

They will deceive and send baby falling!

Listen long for all about in the wind

Seen in the squint of eyes

The broken lines of faces

Weary from sleepless nights.

Watch for the cradles ever swinging

dangerously out

Reach the hand to stave the 

winds pulling

Reach for the little ones in cradles of

trees falling

Out upon the rotting limbs

Swaying precious ones

in the winds.

Afterglow

 Afterglow

Even though home as we knew it was gone, the shell of the structure, like a cicada's,  moved to a park; in the lingering  gloam years hence , it continued to give off a warm glow, reflecting out past the trot, spilling over into the yard, revealing those who once dwelt beneath its sheltering.

John Shaw

 Influences

An early inspiration to me was the nature photographer John Shaw. His book on Nature Photography in the film era was as a Bible.

To get this one frame, I’d say several hours transpired. They say a hummingbird visits the same spot every fifteen minutes. Not this one. 

There is nothing more disconcerting to a photographer to have perfect light turn to shadow before the subject arrives.

First Marriage

 "Mr Roussey, it's your daughter Helen's hand I ask. You see, we sat beside one another all year long. We plan to live in Sopchoppy in the play house out back. John Lloyd is going to be our best man, and her sister Dawn the maid of honor. We plan on inviting our teacher Mrs Townsend. We learned so much from her in second grade. I've yet to break the news to Debbie McKenzie, maybe Daniel her brother  will break it to her gently. My daddy, the preacher at Sopchoppy and Crawfordville Methodist circuit we will ask to do the wedding ceremony. We hope Nena and Randy Anderson will sing. We have arranged for my Uncle Jimmy from Mississippi to pick Helen up in Panacea, drive her over to meet the family. He’s just of age to drive daddy’s DeSoto. I have an older sister Paula, she is best friends with Joan Sanders, Jackie Lawhorn and Henry McDonald. We have a dog named Bobo and my mom Clara teaches the fourth grade at Sopchoppy Elementary, so you see, I hope you agree with the plans we have made and by third grade we can marry in August when Jimmy and his brothers and sister comes for the summer. Sincerely, John Clare Stokes.

After Ansel

 Moonset Tabor

Influences. Another photograph of Ansel Adams I’ve long admired is Moonrise Hernandez. We carry these images in our memory and when we come upon similar scenes, while we do not copy him, we honor him.

Mt Tabor AME

1866

Columbia County

iPhone

Fairy Tales

 [Fairy Tales] make rivers run with wine only to make us remember, for one wild moment, that they run with water. GK Chesterson 

The new cards printed from Vista.

Slip Away

 Slip away

John Clare Stokes

Loud 

Once so loud

Her every word

Heard

Across the holler

Fast

Once so fast

Her every move

Fast

At speed of holler

Strong

Once so strong

Her every lift

Strong

Above all others

Weak 

Now so weak

Her every turn

Weak

Pain in every thing

Quiet

Now so quiet

Her every whisper

Quiet

Faintly heard

Slip

Now slip away

Her every intention

Slipping

Away from us

Align

 Align

The last time

All was aligned

I was merely

Fifteen

In love with 

Pam or Melissa

But really eying

Another secretly

For Eddies took

Both of them

Leaving me empty

And now I'm 

Past sixty by two

And I still think of

Pam and Melissa

And secretly

Even think of

How empty I still feel

Even with one Eddie dying

And the other

Probably still trying

To eclipse my secret love.

Allen Cole

 Allen

Mechanic excellent, patriot, veteran, philosopher, all around good guy, no motorcycle accident can keep him down. The prosthetic leg will arrive in a few weeks. He will again be on his feet. We anxiously await the return.

Allen did return but on this birthday several years ago he and his son Ethan took a ride down I-95. Up ahead was a wreck, Allen slowed and swerved to the right out of the way. Behind came a van and hit him from behind. Ethan got there sadly to hold his dying father in his arms.

Allen was the one who gave me the nickname Magoo.

Thus into the morning

 

Tulip

 I knew a man

He loathed tulips

Not sure why

Something about a guy called Calvin

Growing them

I’d offer him a lily

But probably not

For their call to bloom

Is irresistible too